Closer than Blood
by country music freak
Summary: When Jack has a nightmare about his mom's death, Henry takes it upon himself to comfort him. How close will that bring the two boys? I don't own Criminal Minds nor the characters. They all, sadly, belong to CBS.


Hotch tiredly rubbed his eyes, wondering for the hundredth time what on earth possessed him to agree to let Henry stay over that night. Even though it had been years ago, Jack still got night terrors around the anniversary of Hailey's death. Hotch didn't want Henry to have to be subjected to the absolute terror and heart-stopping sounds of pain that came from Jack in the middle of a night terror.

Hotch dropped in to the comfy chair in front of the television, wondering if it would be morally acceptable for him to have some liquor. After all, he had two children in his care who, at any given moment, might need to be driven to the hospital. Hotch decided against it, telling himself that he would have JJ repay the favor and have her watch Jack and Henry soon.

"Daddy! Daddy! Can we go play at the park? Pretty please? I promise to keep an eye on Henry. He won't even come home with a scrapped knee," Jack pleaded with Hotch. Just when Hotch thought he could have a few minutes to himself . . . Oh well. The downside to having kids. But everything else they did made up for all the bad, a thousand times over.

"Sure, buddy. Let me just go and get my jacket. You might want to grab yourself and Henry one. Don't want to get sick at your sleep over, do you?" Hotch asked, knowing that one tried and true way to get Jack or Henry to do something was to subtly suggest that _not_ doing it would end in something that would cause their play time to end . . . such as getting sick.

***Later that night***

Hotch was just about to climb into bed, exhausted after a long day of chasing a ten year old and a seven year old, when he heard the beginnings of a nightmare coming from Jack's room, where he and Henry had gone to bed hours ago.

Hotch hurried to the room and was about to open the door, when he heard something familiar, but not in this situation. Henry was talking, but what made this situation strange was that it was a soft and soothing voice.

"Hey, Jack-Jack. What's wrong? I know something's wrong because you're crying and you only do that when something's wrong like the time when I fell out of a tree and got a con-cuss-shun. 'member? You saved me. You got Mommy and Daddy, even though it meant that you would get in trouble a'cause I wasn't supposed to climb a tree because I was sick." Henry couldn't have had any idea what was going on with Jack and why he was so scared. He hadn't been born when Hailey died. All he knew was that his Jack-Jack and Uncle Aaron got sad this time of year.

Jack was still tossing around in his bed and Hotch was about to go into the room again, when he heard something not quite right. It was the sound of blankets being moved aside and the mattress being climbed on. Hotch, not knowing what was going on, opened the door a crack and what he saw made him smile.

Henry had climbed into bed with Jack and wrapped the bigger boy in his arms and was quietly singing to him in his little boy voice. Hotch recognized the song as the one JJ used when she couldn't get Henry to settle down when he was a baby. Apparently the song followed him through his childhood.

Hotch watched in awe as Jack quieted down and curled into a ball, pressing himself into Henry's stomach, while Henry continued to sing and started to run his small fingers through Jack's hair, calming the older boy better than even Hotch himself could when Jack had a nightmare.

***The next day***

"Hotch? Why do our sons seem even closer than they were before?" JJ asked, in a slightly worried tone. Hotch understood, the boys were practically brothers. The thought of them even closer than they were had them both happy and nervous. Who knew what kind of trouble those two could cook up together?

"They had a bit of an intimate night. _NOT_ like that. Jack was having a nightmare and Henry tried to calm him down. When he couldn't, he simply climbed into bed with Jack and sang to him while running his fingers through Jack's bird's nest of hair. It was adorable," Hotch replied, keeping a close eye on the kids and an even closer one on his barbeque. "I don't think those boys could be closer if they experienced the same things and were twins. What they have is a relationship closer than blood . . ."


End file.
